Roadmap for RE in buildings in the Changjiang River Region

Background

China’s Changjiang River (CJR) basin covers an area of 1.8 million km² with a population of over 500 million. It includes China's major industrial centres and generates 40% of the country's GDP. The region is also growing quickly, with 500 million m2 of new construction added each year. Given the local climate, these new buildings require both cooling in summer and heating in winter.

Better integration of renewable energy (RE) into new buildings in the region could help meet the rapid growth in energy demand. The Chinese government sees the CJR region as a vital building block in changing the country's energy structure.

Purpose

To develop a roadmap for the promotion of RE technologies in buildings in the CJR region, as well as the necessary policy measures for its implementation

Main Activities

Examine the distribution and availability of RE resources in the CJR region and their potential for application in buildings

Summarise lessons learned from existing RE demonstration projects and cities in the CJR region and review the effectiveness of current incentive policies and identify obstacles to wide-scale roll-out

Set appropriate buildings RE targets to be achieved within 5 years broken down by building type such as residential, commercial, private and public

Develop a general plan for the whole CJR basin within the targets, as well as plans for several sub-scale regions within the basin, a plan for each of the 7 provinces and 2 cities

Propose incentive policies for central, provincial and municipal governments, as well as a list of required technical standards

Take advantage of research capabilities of Academy of Building Research, Tianjin Institute

Expected Impact

Better government understanding of how to promote RE use in buildings on a regional scale

Adoption of the roadmap, targets and policies by the Chinese government and integration into its strategic RE plan, with close involvement of officials from Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development (MoHURD)

Successful demonstration in the CJR region means a significant impact in both the RE market and the reduction of carbon emission.

RE use in buildings and the specific research outputs of the project incorporated into an undergraduate course in the Zhejiang University’s Department of Architecture

Possible replication of the CJR experiences in promoting the use of RE in buildings in other regions of China